Be a good egg!

The other day my wife Joy was in the kitchen preparing a cake for our daughter Annika’s birthday. She had gathered all the ingredients, placed them strategically around the counter, and was meticulously measuring and mixing them in a bowl when I heard a small scream! I could tell immediately that something was very, very wrong. Joy had cracked an egg into the bowl and it was a bad egg. Yuck! It was a crucial mistake and was she frustrated.

Eggs in cake batter bind the other ingredients together so they blend harmoniously. While you can substitute for them, if you don’t put them in the texture will be off and kind of crumbly. Unfortunately I know a few couples with marriages that have an off texture and are kind of crumbly. The missing ingredient for harmony in their marriages isn’t eggs, but grace.

Grace is defined as mercy; clemency; or pardon.

- Grace in action accepts differences as just being differences without assigning judgements to them;
– Grace is compassionate and forgiving; and
– Grace is to release your spouse from liability for an offense.

Knowing that Joy was already upset commenting on her mistake would only have made the situation worse. Instead I dashed off to the store and got fresh eggs and a new box of cake mix. I was a good egg for my marriage.

Ephesians 4:32 (NIV) says “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Use grace in your marriage to help you and your spouse blend harmoniously, be a good egg!

21 Dating Ideas for the Cheap, Frugal or Financially Challenged

1. Fill your sweeties car with red balloons and surprise them with a pin to pop them with. Bonus points for sticking a love note, quote, or message in each one.

2. Visit your local car dealer and take a test drive together.

3. Go to a youth baseball, football, or basketball game together and root for both teams.

4. Get out your camera and take pictures of the city together. Ask strangers to take pictures of the two of you together. Upload your photos and share them with your friends.

5. Dress up formally and have dinner at a fast food restaurant.

6. Visit your local dollar store with a $5 bill each and come up with creative gifts for each other.

7. Find the best, worst, ugliest, most romantic piece of art at a local gallery.

8. Take a drive to nowhere, get lost, and explore a new way home.

9. Go garage sale shopping. Have a price limit – $10 can get you quite a bit at a yard sale.

10. Get bent out of shape together. Sign up for a free yoga class at a local gym or studio.

11. Check out your local colleges for guest lectures from visiting professors.

12. Visit your local farmers market and sample all the fresh offerings. Choose a new vegetable or fruit and create a dish together.

13. Go bowling and don’t keep score.

14. Visit your airport and watch the planes take off and land. Wave at the pilots and passengers

15. Buy a pint of your favorite ice cream and toppings. Make sundae’s for each other on Saturday night.

16. People watch at the mall and make up funny, silly, or outlandish stories about the people you see.

17. Have a film festival with your sweetie. Pick a theme ­ such as best musical, worst horror movie, or
guy movies.

18. Find out where the closest zoo is and visit the animals.

19. Instead of a romantic dinner, schedule a romantic breakfast for two.

20. Visit your parks and rec department or library for a workshop, class, or lecture.

21. Head to a used book store and explore for hidden treasures.

Use these ideas to keep your marriage healthy, loving, and fun on a budget.

Schedule a regular date night with your spouse

Recently Joy and I were blessed with tickets to the symphony and we’re extremely grateful to the friends that shared them with us. I’ve been wanting to take her for a while but just never seemed to get around to it. Even recently meeting a member of the orchestra hadn’t spurred me to get tickets. Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy date nights with my bride.

I realized if more husbands understood the benefits of continuing to date their wife there would be a lot more happy wives, and husbands!

Here are some tips to prepare you for strengthening your marriage with regular date nights:

1. Schedule it! Put it on your calendar and let the anticipation build.

2. Remember that it doesn’t have to be a big production, they’re nice once in a while but dating regularly is what’s most important.

3. Mix it up. A movie once in a while is fine but the real goal here is creating opportunities to increase your levels of communication, connection, and togetherness.

4. Keep in mind that a special breakfast or lunch can be a great date, you don’t always have to go out in the evening.

5. Celebrate off beat holidays and create your own

- January 8th is Bubble Bath Day.
– February 7th-14th is National Marriage Week
– March 14th is Pi Day

6. If you’ve got kids then find a responsible neighborhood teen to be your regular babysitter, ask family members for help, or find church friends with children similiar in age to your kids to trade off with.

It was Russian night at the symphony and they played wonderful pieces from Borodin, Mussorgsky, and Shostakovich. My bride and I had a wonderful time. Joy even got to sample special Russian sweets from one of the organizations being promoted in the hall.

Schedule a regular date night with your spouse and keep the fire burning in your marriage!

Kevin Decker. The Marriage Coach